The Buffalo Blog

Making the Matrix a reality

Corroboration finally, on what I have been saying for years now – the Matrix is finally approaching reality. It simply has to be true now – the FT and Information Age are writing about it! Like it or not we’ll all soon be plugged in to a seamlessly linked, boundless 3D universe.

The heady future I speak of is the development of the 3D internet. By using a standard development approach and, of course uniform code, some of the biggest IT players in the world – IBM, Forterra, Cisco and Linden Labs – are meeting regularly, to lay the foundations for the next step in the internet. Think of it as Second Life, but for the whole internet, and with a purpose above simple escapism.

Imagine never having to leave the house again?! Doesn’t it sound great? Hyperbole simply doesn’t provide the words. Barely disguised mocking of hard-core Second Lifers aside, the practical implications of the 3D internet are truly interesting;

• Saving on travel through intelligent ‘avatar conferencing’ - good for the footprint and the pocket
• The creation of more immersive websites – a third dimension provides endless possibilities for business and entertainment
• Networking both internally and externally for business – while the need for face to face will obviously never disappear, it offers great opportunities for first contact and keeping in touch etc.
• Please speculate as you will…

While all this may be a while off, and much of it still nerdy speculation, it will definitely be interesting to see what develops. As long as the big players can decide on a decent universal standard, who knows where it could all lead – now is it to be the red pill or the blue?

Falling at the last hurdle - the call centre letdown...

In the communications industry we work on a daily basis, to improve reputations and ultimately drive customers to our client’s doors. Because of my commitment to this daily mission, I find it astounding how some of the largest companies in the world fall at the final communications hurdle.

There has been a good deal of ranting going on in the office today about the terrible customer service received on an all-too-frequent basis from certain large, not-to-be-named companies (oh ok then: BT, RAC, AA…!).

Call centres, for many businesses, are the modern day equivalent of the friendly shopkeeper and their importance cannot be neglected in the process of customer acquisition and retention.

Then why is it that so many are getting it wrong? Just today a colleague had numerous problems with a certain large telecommunications company due to the fact that its systems were down. In a display of cheek, the company repeatedly asked her to call back – isn’t this their problem?!

We work with call centre clients and it is clear that these services can be efficient and useful. However, those companies who think that one call centre is as good as another are sadly mistaken.

As comms professionals we can only do so much as communications comes from every facet of the company and must of consistent high quality to retain customers. If these companies truly want to survive in an age where the consumer is king, they’d do well to shape up their shop fronts and sort out a decent call centre provider.

Britney's busy day

Just thought this was funny from The London Paper (bastion of independent and insightful journalism):

'The visit (Britney's to a police station) ended a busy day for the singer, who hung out in Starbucks before skipping dance rehearsals to drive around LA wearing a bright pink wig'.

Just a minute - her 'busy day' was hanging around in Starbucks then driving in circles wearing a wig. Maybe my like is packed to the absolute rafters but I would certainly not say that this was a busy day! 

Auntie goes mad

News that the BBC is to cut 2,800 jobs couldn’t come at a worse time for Auntie as she fights to keep afloat in the battle for quality news content and acceptable audience shares.

While I may not have an inside knowledge of the funding structure of the BBC, I can still tell that cutting jobs is not a great idea right now.

Commercial channels are currently trying to balance falling ad revenues against quality programming. This is creating a downward spiral in programmes, audience and, in turn, advertising interest.

However, just at the moment when the BBC should be stealing a march on the embattled commercial stations, it is reducing its news capabilities by consolidating its back and front office news network. This will mean various news services will be distributing the same news in an attempt reduce duplication of effort.

The trouble is this that this strategy makes absolutely no sense from a commercial or quality perspective. Firstly, viewers value the varying perspectives given across the BBC network, i.e. BBC News 24 versus Radio Four – with everyone saying the same thing it will make things very mundane. Secondly, BBC viewers/listeners are notoriously traditional, the slightest change creating uproar.

This misplaced ‘streamlining’ opportunity, rather than creating a lean, mean BBC, could leave the corporation looking more like a rabbit in the headlights, rather like their oh so forward-thinking viewers during Emily Maitlis’ skirt scandal

Power to the little man

Who’d have thought that multi-national corporations would attempt to lead-on the poor man on the street?! Well, believe it or not they have been. Every time you buy broadband that is ‘up to 8Mbit/s’, it only actually goes about half that speed because of contention, poor quality wiring and distance from the telephone exchange. Feeling cheated yet? You should do!

But the little man is fighting back. Fighting for fair communications. And good for them. We applaud a fighter, and sometimes we even applaud a fight.

Search Engine Extortion

Gartner made some interesting predictions last week basically saying that by 2010 many criminal gangs will operate in the virtual world, extorting companies by holding their search results to ransom.

By effectively optimising, or anti-optimising, all the bad online mentions, even creating new, possibly libellous articles, these gangs will try to tarnish that priceless asset – reputation.

While the word is still out on the effectiveness of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) in bringing in B2B clients; its place as a possible negative force has just become a lot more important.

"But my customers don’t search online about my product!" You may say.

Yes they do – even if a search engine isn’t your customers’ first port of call when looking for a service, bad mentions at the top of Google will still be amazingly damaging.

The truth is that search engines are the first place that millions of customers look for a product or service. Even if they don’t search initially, during the due diligence process a search engine will inevitably play a large part. If a search reveals ten bad articles about a company the results are obvious – you can say goodbye to the business.

The answer? Take notice of your online reputation, what’s being said about you, where are the good articles, who are your supporters, etc etc etc! Work on SEO or if you don’t know how, get someone in. Read blogs and keep the key people up on your company’s position if you’re being misrepresented. And always remember that good links mean good ratings – so get as many as possible.

By doing this proactively you are strengthening your position in the search rankings which will then be that much stronger if attacked by these newfangled ‘search extortionists’. In fact, if your rep is strong enough they probably won’t pick on you in the first place.

Royal Mail communications farce

Recently, Royal Mail revealed plans to close its final-salary pension scheme to all employees in a move that could plunge the business further into industrial turmoil. The decision is expected to trigger strikes by thousands of postal managers, in addition to unrest among its 130,000 employees who are in dispute over pay and working arrangements. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6342031.stm

However many millions (or hundreds of millions) pounds the Royal Mail has recently spent on developing their brand is quite evidently money down the drain. It’s all well and good having a fantastic logo and beautiful shining new collateral but with a communications disaster like this they might as well not have bothered. The true test of a brand and its values is the way that it is perceived, both internally and externally, and no amount of money can rectify this fiasco now.

It is typical of the lack of joined-up thinking synonymous with big company culture to treat employees with such disdain. Every single element of best practice in communications has gone out of the window.

Is it too late for Royal Mail? The answer is probably yes – they have been dishonest and secretive, leaving employees angry and in the dark. Even discussions with the unions and employees at this stage will leave them with a bitter taste in their mouth. Moving forward, Royal Mail needs to develop communications and HR procedures, both internal and external, that keep everyone informed when such an important decision is to be made. 

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